Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Electronic Records / 20.03.2020
Best Practice Alerts from Electronic Records Can Reduce Redundant Lab Testing
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_53592" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Bishnoi[/caption]
Rohit Bishnoi, M.D.
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Department of Medicine
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: National Healthcare expenditure was $3.6 trillion in 2018 and 17.7% of Gross Domestic Product. Redundant laboratory testing is one part of this problem that is more pronounced in hospitalized patients as they are often seen by multiple physicians from the time of admission till discharge. This added burden on the US health care system leads to increased costs, decreased patient satisfaction, and unnecessary phlebotomy. It also leads to iatrogenic anemia over time and unnecessary transfusions. The Choosing Wisely initiative recommendation from the Society of Hospital Medicine, Society for the Advancement of Blood Management, and the Critical Care Societies Collaborative have recommended avoiding repetitive labs.
As one of the physicians in the division of hospital medicine at the University of Florida (UF) Health Shands hospital, we encountered this problem frequently where a patient will get multiple HbA1c or lipid profiles or iron studies during the same hospital stay without any clear clinical indication. Most often these tests were ordered by different physicians seeing the same patient and not realizing that either the test has already been ordered or sometimes it is related to practice pattern of physicians. We often heard complaints about this from our nursing and laboratory staff and, most importantly by patients themselves.
Dr. Bishnoi[/caption]
Rohit Bishnoi, M.D.
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Department of Medicine
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: National Healthcare expenditure was $3.6 trillion in 2018 and 17.7% of Gross Domestic Product. Redundant laboratory testing is one part of this problem that is more pronounced in hospitalized patients as they are often seen by multiple physicians from the time of admission till discharge. This added burden on the US health care system leads to increased costs, decreased patient satisfaction, and unnecessary phlebotomy. It also leads to iatrogenic anemia over time and unnecessary transfusions. The Choosing Wisely initiative recommendation from the Society of Hospital Medicine, Society for the Advancement of Blood Management, and the Critical Care Societies Collaborative have recommended avoiding repetitive labs.
As one of the physicians in the division of hospital medicine at the University of Florida (UF) Health Shands hospital, we encountered this problem frequently where a patient will get multiple HbA1c or lipid profiles or iron studies during the same hospital stay without any clear clinical indication. Most often these tests were ordered by different physicians seeing the same patient and not realizing that either the test has already been ordered or sometimes it is related to practice pattern of physicians. We often heard complaints about this from our nursing and laboratory staff and, most importantly by patients themselves.
Adawiyah Jami[/caption]
Adawiyah Jamil, AdvMDerm
Associate Professor at Department of Medicine
University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We commonly observed poor dietary pattern and multiple food restrictions imposed on atopic dermatitis (AD) children by their parents in our daily clinical practice. Food allergy is often associated with AD, however excessive and medically unsubstantiated restriction may lead to various health issues. AD is a chronic skin disease, like any other chronic diseases it affects an individual’s general health. Growth and development are key measures of health in children. We embarked on this study as we were very worried of the consequences of medically unsupervised food restriction, especially those with severe disease. We were concerned about how our atopic dermatitis children are eating and how to help them.
Dr. Kooraki[/caption]
Soheil Kooraki MSR MS, MD
on behalf of Dr. Ali Gholamrezanezhad MD and co-authors
Department of Radiological Sciences,
David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: COVID19 is a novel strain of the coronavirus family causing pneumonia. Two similar strains were discovered in 2003 and 2012 to cause the so-called SARS and MERS outbreaks, respectively. Radiologists need to be prepared for the escalating incidence of COVID-19. We reviewed the literature to extract the epidemiologic and imaging features of SARS and MERS in comparison with known imaging features of COVID-19 pneumonia to have a better understanding of the imaging features of the COVID19 pneumonia in acute and post-recovery stages.
